Youth Worker: We Are Confusing Students!!!!

Its-really-confusingThere are church words and phrases that we use all the time that are probably confusing our students. I remember this one lady in church who would always respond when people would ask her “how are you doing” she would respond with “blessed and highly favored of the Lord”. I would think, “what do you mean by highly favored? I mean, does God favor you more than me?”  I think about this incident and how it has made me conscious about the terms I use talking to students.  Now, I grew up knowing all of the Christianized lingo, and I still know it and I use it when it’s appropriate. It is not appropriate when I’m talking to students who are coming to church for the fist time or a student you are mentoring.  The last thing I want them doing is decoding what I’m trying to say while I’m speaking.  Here are some of the words and phrases I replace with regular language.

  • Resting in the arms of God
  • Sovereign
  • Spiritual high
  • Just give it to God
  • Surrender your heart
  • Quiet time
  • Walk with God
  • Christ increase while I decrease
  • Be all you can be in Christ
  • Not my will but thy will
  • Leave it in the hands of God

We use these words and phrases all the time with good intentions, but the likely hood of students knowing what we are really talking about is slim to none.  Be intentional about using regular language so everyone understands you.  If you do need to use words like sovereign give the meaning so students can follow.  Saying ” we all need to have a quiet time with God” is totally true but it’s a metaphor; it’s not really explaining what you mean.  Think about it.

What other Christianized words and phrases do we use that are probably confusing to our students?

hope it helps

ac

2 thoughts on “Youth Worker: We Are Confusing Students!!!!”

  1. I think it’s equally important to be mindful while praying as a group leader — it’s possible to slide into “the lingo” when moved by the Spirit, and that can confuse or simply make others uncomfortable (thinking that they need to pray in a similar way instead of just stating what’s on their heart in plain, simple terms). In our scout troop, we have a burden of both spiritual phrases (being a faith-based troop) and a lot of outdoorsy lingo and acronyms from scouting in general. We make it a point to explain these bit by bit with our visitors and newer scouts so that they learn and become comfortable with the expressions (because they understand their meaning). It takes time, but it helps them grow, too. We also try to pair up mentoring buddies who can help “newbies” feel more at ease. Nice article, good reminders!

  2. This is awesome!!This is where I struggle. It is so easy to slip in a few phrases that is great for you but confuses everyone else. Pray simple and clear. That’s what I try to do.

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